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draggonlaadyNot a strong point with some clients.
Obviously this did not happen today. I am home being sickly, because it's a holiday weekend and that's what you do on holidays, right? bah.
Anyway... Saw a woman a while back for a flock of canaries that weren't breeding and had a slight/passing respiratory issue that seemed to move from hen to hen.
During the discussion, I asked what she was feeding, and tried to explain that the vast majority of problems with birds (and other exotics) in captivity is long-term nutritional issues due to something imbalanced in the diet. Woman about exploded. Can't POSSIBLY be the food, she's been feeding this for years and never had a problem! Absolutely refused to harbor the idea that something in her recipe might have been overlooked or an ingredient changed when she moved from down south to here. Was offended that I would even think such a thing.
So can anyone suggest a polite way of pointing out that this is equivalent to saying "I've been smoking for 20 years, and it's never hurt me before, so the recent cough cannot possibly be related."? Sigh.
Anyway, I came back to it from a different angle later, and started her on a couple different supplements to add into the food and drinking water... sneaky sneaky and without re-stating that they'd help to make up for any vitamin/mineral lackage in her homemade diet...
And, lo and behold, a few weeks later the birds are doing much better. A couple months later, they're doing excellently, and the woman absolutely swears by the supplements, without ever admitting that the ONLY FREAKING THING we've addressed is a nutritional issue.
Obviously this did not happen today. I am home being sickly, because it's a holiday weekend and that's what you do on holidays, right? bah.
Anyway... Saw a woman a while back for a flock of canaries that weren't breeding and had a slight/passing respiratory issue that seemed to move from hen to hen.
During the discussion, I asked what she was feeding, and tried to explain that the vast majority of problems with birds (and other exotics) in captivity is long-term nutritional issues due to something imbalanced in the diet. Woman about exploded. Can't POSSIBLY be the food, she's been feeding this for years and never had a problem! Absolutely refused to harbor the idea that something in her recipe might have been overlooked or an ingredient changed when she moved from down south to here. Was offended that I would even think such a thing.
So can anyone suggest a polite way of pointing out that this is equivalent to saying "I've been smoking for 20 years, and it's never hurt me before, so the recent cough cannot possibly be related."? Sigh.
Anyway, I came back to it from a different angle later, and started her on a couple different supplements to add into the food and drinking water... sneaky sneaky and without re-stating that they'd help to make up for any vitamin/mineral lackage in her homemade diet...
And, lo and behold, a few weeks later the birds are doing much better. A couple months later, they're doing excellently, and the woman absolutely swears by the supplements, without ever admitting that the ONLY FREAKING THING we've addressed is a nutritional issue.
